When North Korea invited the first foreign rock group ever to perform there, it was Slovenian art-rock group Laibach, a visit that became the subject of the documentary Liberation Day, on iTunes in July from Dogwoof.

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Today Arrow announced its Blu-ray and DVD line-up for September 2017, which includes a unique Brit chiller, a Seventies Hollywood classic, a Mario Bava masterpiece, a superb Italian murder mystery, and an Oscar-winning British comedy classic – in short, a veritable late summer feast for cineastes.

First up this month is The Ghoul, an outstanding debut from writer-director Gareth Tunley, from executive producer Ben Wheatley, about a cop investigating a series of murders who finds himself drawn into the murky world of the occult. Starring Tom Meeten and Alice Lowe, The Ghoul is a unique and nasty slice of British horror cinema.

Also at the start of September is the classic 1973 thriller The Day of the Jackal, based on the best-selling book by Frederick Forsyth. Starring Edward Fox as the titular assassin, hired to kill French President Charles de Gaulle, The Day of the Jackal remains one of the greatest political thrillers of all time, and is issued here by Arrow with rare archival clips among the extras, as well as a collector’s booklet with the first pressing.

Mid-September sees the release of two superior Italian thrillers. Firstly, the Dual Format debut of The Suspicious Death of a Minor, a 1975 giallo/poliziotteschi hybrid from the great Sergio Martino. With a cast that includes Mel Ferrer, Barbara Magnolfi and Jenny Tamburi, the lurid murder-mystery sees a cop on the trail of a Milanese criminal gang, and the Dual Format release includes a brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative, produced exclusively by Arrow Video.

Then there’s legendary Black Sunday director Mario Bava’s Kill, Baby… Kill!, a stunning Gothic horror about a remote village haunted by the spirit of a young girl. Co-starring the unforgettable Erika Blanc , Kill, Baby… Kill! – restored here in 2k – arrived at the tail-end of the golden age of Italian horror and is regarded by many as Bava’s masterpiece.

Finally in September is the Blu-ray release of A Fish Called Wanda, the hilarious and irresistible farce from 1988, starring John Cleese, Michael Palin, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. A box office smash, nominated for three Academy Awards (winning one for Kline’s outstanding supporting turn as the psychotic Otto), A Fish Called Wanda has stood the test of time and can be rightfully called a comedy classic.

From executive producer Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Free Fire) comes a mind-bending British psychological thriller to sit alongside such classics of the genre as Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s Performance, David Lynch’s Lost Highway and Christopher Nolan’s Following.

Chris is a homicide detective called to London to investigate a strange double murder. Both victims appear to have continued moving towards their assailant despite multiple gunshots to the face and chest. On a hunch, and with the help of an old colleague – and former girlfriend – Chris decides to go undercover as a patient to investigate the suspect’s psychotherapist, the mysterious Alexander Morland, who has a taste for the occult…

The debut feature of writer-director Gareth Tunley, starring Tom Meeten (Sightseers), Alice Lowe (Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place) and Dan Renton Skinner (Notes on Blindness), The Ghoul is the latest standout addition to a thriving new wave of British cinema.

Director-approved Special Edition contents:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) / Standard Definiton DVD presentation

Original 5.1 audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)

Optional English subtitles for the hard-of-hearing

Filmmakers’ commentary

Interviews with the cast and crew

The Baron, a 2013 short film by Gareth Tunley, starring Tom Meeten and Steve Oram (Aaaaaaaah!, Sightseers)

Trailer

First pressing only – Booklet featuring writing on the film by Adam Scovell, author of Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange

The Day of the Jackal (1973) | Blu-ray | 4 September 2017 | £24.99

In 1971, Frederick Forsythe shot to bestseller status with his debut novel, The Day of the Jackal – taut, utterly plausible, almost documentarian in its realism and attention to detail. Two years later, director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon) turned a gripping novel into a nail-biting cinematic experience.

August 1962: the latest attempt on the life of French President Charles de Gaulle by the far right paramilitary organisation, the OAS, ends in chaos, with its architect-in-chief dead at the hands of a firing squad. Demoralised and on the verge of bankruptcy, the OAS leaders meet in secret to plan their next move. In a last desperate attempt to eliminate de Gaulle, they opt to employ the services of a hired assassin from outside the fold. Enter the Jackal (Edward Fox, Gandhi): charismatic, calculating, cold as ice. As the Jackal closes in on his target, a race against the clock ensues to identify and put a stop to a killer whose identity, whereabouts and modus operandi are completely unknown.

Co-starring a plethora of talent from both sides of the Channel, including Michael Lonsdale (Munich), Derek Jacobi (The Odessa File) and Cyril Cusack (1984) and featuring striking cinematography by Jean Tournier (Moonraker), The Day of the Jackal remains one of the greatest political thrillers of all time.

Special Edition contents:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation

Original uncompressed mono audio

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

New interview with Neil Sinyard, author of Fred Zinnemann: Films of Character and Conscience

Two rare archival clips from the film set, including an interview with Fred Zinnemann

In the wake of the success of Dario Argento’s ground-breaking giallo The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, numerous other directors stepped forward to try their hand at these lurid murder-mysteries. At the forefront was Sergio Martino (The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, Torso), whose sensual 70s thrillers starring Edwige Fenech and George Hilton are widely celebrated as some of the best the genre has to offer.

The final of Martino’s six gialli, The Suspicious Death of a Minor combines conventional giallo trappings with elements of the then flourishing ‘poliziotteschi’ crime thrillers. Claudio Cassinelli (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) stars as undercover cop Paolo Germi, on the trail of a Milanese criminal outfit following the brutal murder of an underage prostitute. But a killer-for-hire is also on the prowl, bumping off witnesses before they have a chance to talk…

Also starring Mel Ferrer (Nightmare City), Barbara Magnolfi (Suspiria) and Jenny Tamburi (The Psychic), and featuring a script by veteran giallo writer Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colours of the Dark, Death Walks at Midnight), this unique and lesser-known entry in Martino’s filmography serves as an essential link between two different movements in Italian popular cinema.

Special Edition contents:

Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Video exclusively for this release

In 1966, after a three-year hiatus, director Mario Bava (Black Sunday, The Girl Who Knew Too Much) returned to his preferred stomping ground of horror, conjuring up a spine-tingling tale of Gothic terror whose influence would resonate within the genre for years to come.

In the early 20th century, pathologist Dr Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, The Last Man on Earth) is summoned to a remote Carpathian village to perform an autopsy on a woman who died under mysterious circumstances. With the locals convinced they are being haunted by the spirit of a young girl who died years ago, can the steadfastly rational doctor find a logical explanation to the strange goings-on… or will his rational beliefs be destroyed by the dark secret that lies within the crumbling walls of the ancient Villa Graps?

Co-starring the unforgettable Erika Blanc (The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, So Sweet… So Perverse), Kill, Baby… Kill! arrived at the tail-end of the golden age of Italian horror and is regarded by many as Bava’s masterpiece.

First pressing only – Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Travis Crawford

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) | Blu-ray | 18 September 2017 | £24.99

In 1988, John Cleese, former Python and the mastermind behind Fawlty Towers, teamed up with the veteran Ealing Comedy director Charles Crichton (The Lavender Hill Mob) to produce another classic of British comedy.

Cleese plays Archie Leach, a weak-willed barrister who finds himself embroiled with a quartet of ill-matched jewel thieves – two American con artists played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, Michael Palin’s animal-loving hitman and London gangster Tom Georgeson – when Georgeson is arrested. Only he and Palin know the whereabouts of the diamonds, prompting plenty of farce and in-fighting as well as some embarrassing nudity and the unfortunate demise of some innocent pooches…

Nominated for three Academy Awards and winning one for Kline’s outstanding supporting turn as the psychopathic Otto, A Fish Called Wanda has stood the test of time, earning its rightful place among its creators’ remarkable comedy pedigree.

Special Edition contents:

Brand-new 4K restoration from the original negative, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release

John Cleese’s Final Farewell Performance, a 1988 documentary on the making of A Fish Called Wanda featuring interviews with actors Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin, Kevin Kline and director Charles Crichton